Saturday, April 29, 2017

Christianson's Nursery

A trip to the Skagit Valley is not complete without a visit to one of our favorite plant places. 



 It's right in the middle of the farmland, and some years there are bulb fields right here across the road. 
A small, fancy maple caught Tom's eye right away. He talked himself out of it, but in the end I talked him back into it. It will be a bonsai. 


 There is a lot of old stuff here. The nursery dates from 1946, and the owners like to "preserve small bits of history" from the Skagit Valley farmland. They have moved in old buildings and preserve the old buildings from the original business instead of building new structures. I have always loved this big old watering trough. 

 Since we had already seen the tulip displays this time around, we took our time in the nursery, checking out names of plants that were unfamiliar. 




 So many interesting plants.

And a lovely gift shop too!


 Yep. We collected a few plants as we went along. 





 I really wanted to sit here and have someone serve me tea, but I think I missed whatever the function was. 

 Last year we met the greenhouse cat. This year I said howdy to the hen. She ignored me. 


This 1888 school house was moved here as part of preserving history. It housed a little local artist show. 

 We love this little espaliered apple hedge. 


Aw. What a lovely day it was!  We paid for our plants, found an espresso stand for some late afternoon coffee and chocolate, and then crossed over the bridge and began the hour long drive down the island to our Whidbey cabin. My soul was restored.  

19 comments:

  1. Christianson's is a great nursery, I love their sense of history too. Looks like you had a good time wandering there.

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  2. We love Christianson's too and since we don't live far from there we visit a lot. Always can find the unusual and they have hardy stock.
    MB

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  3. What a delight to be able to visit such a wonderful Nursery along with you, a feast for the eyes.

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  4. What a plant shopper's paradise! It must be hard to resist going over your budget, if you have one when you step on their grounds.

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  5. It would be hard to choose from so many plants. I love the gift shop and the old school house. Oh, and I love your new header. The flowers in front of your cabin are so pretty.

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  6. The owners must be great people, I like how they preserved that cute school house, old water trough etc. I saw in one of your photos a wisteria trained as a standard; that reminds me I want one.

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  7. Nice tour. Garden centers have become much more than just a place to buy plants.

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  8. Oooooh, was that a little wisteria tree in one of the pictures? I love to garden and the mainland has so many different plants. What a wonderful excursion.

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  9. There seems to be no shortage of plant buying opportunities in your area. I had great plans to do some landscaping in Florida this year, but it just didn't happen. Just as well, since the drought is so bad.

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  10. I just loved the photo tour and found myself recalling strolls through similar places both in North America and Europe and like you I felt recharged by the beauty of it all. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face.

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  11. Looks like a great place to spend the day. I really like how they have allowed the old to remain and what they brought in was also old like the school house. Nice to see in a world that worships shiny and new.

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  12. It is always a pleasure to see plants so artfully arranged.

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  13. It looks like quite the place. I'm glad you talked Tom into a new bonsai. You'll have to share it when he gets it started. I can see why you ended up happy and content after that trip. :-)

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  14. What a great place. Nice that they're preserving some history too.
    The Abbotsford tulip festival took place this weekend. We were appalled at the traffic jam on the freeway as too many cars were trying to get into the parking area. We were glad we had taken a side road for our Sunday drive.

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  15. I'm always impressed with Christianson's at the NWFGS but have never been there. It's a delight to see this place through your lens and to shop vicariously through you!

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  16. great activity for a spring day, i'm trying to talk my hubby into a short vacation this month to somewhere green!

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  17. What a wonderful nursery! Definitely putting it on my list of places to go when heading North!

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  18. Sigh... I would love to go back to Skagit Valley again. What a wonderful, HUGE nursery. I could spend my whole day there. Thank you for sharing your day with us.

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